City staff have recommended that a boost in sidewalk winter maintenance efforts which has been in place for the past two winter seasons be made permanent.
In a report tabled for the Sept. 15 operations committee meeting of city council, city Roads Operations engineer Tony De Silva recommends continuing the program as a pilot for the 2025/26 winter season.
Afterward, he recommends directing staff to prepare a business case for the boost in sidewalk clearing to become permanent in the 2026/27 budget.
The 2025/26 winter season extension is anticipated to cost $289,000.
City council members will vote on De Silva’s recommendations during the Sept. 15 meeting.
A few hours after reading De Silva’s report on Monday, Greater Sudbury Safer Sidewalks founder Maria Bozzo told Sudbury.com that while she’s reluctant to count her chickens before they hatch, the favourable staff recommendation is “a big step.”
“I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “The pilot did make a difference, it really did.”
Greater Sudbury Safer Sidewalks has been advocating for the municipality to improve winter sidewalk maintenance efforts for five years, she said, and this the pilot program has helped.
“It’s been an improvement that we’d like to see continue, and we’re happy that staff see it that way, too,” she said.
“The pilot project has proven to be a cost-effective solution that has enhanced service delivery and received positive feedback from council, staff, and the public,” according to De Silva’s report. “Given the city's expected population growth, increasing infrastructure demands, and the need for a resilient and responsive active transportation network, it is prudent to plan for sustainable long-term service improvements.”
The pilot program includes the addition of three seasonal employees to supplement the existing 21 who undertake annual sidewalk winter maintenance efforts.
Similar to downtown sidewalk maintenance efforts, these three additional employees maintain sidewalks within their respective sections on a rotational basis during business days and not just immediately following snow events.
“This enhanced service was delivered on a continuous basis as described over the past two winter seasons with the goal of improving sidewalk conditions between storms,” according to De Silva’s report, which noted that when these staff members weren't needed for sidewalk maintenance, they shifted to other winter work as required.
De Silva’s report notes that it’s difficult to evaluate the program’s effectiveness because each winter season has been unique, so there’s no true “apples to apples” comparison.
However, the pilot program has “received positive feedback from council, staff, and the public,” and has mitigated the impacts of major snow events on sidewalks by minimizing prior snow buildup.
Last year, Greater Sudbury Safer Sidewalks hosted a public survey in which they reported a boost in how residents saw winter sidewalk maintenance.
While the condition of sidewalks within 24 hours of a winter storm appeared unchanged, respondents noted that conditions thereafter improved under the pilot program.
On Monday, Bozzo reiterated this point, saying that annual public feedback has continued to share that the pilot program has made a noticeable improvement in how people are able to navigate Greater Sudbury during the winter months.
Navigating sidewalks remains an issue for people with mobility issues and parents pushing strollers, but Bozzo said that making the pilot program permanent is “a good step forward.”
If approved on Sept. 15, this will be the pilot program’s second extension. It was introduced in the 2023/24 winter season, and city council voted in June 2024 to extend the pilot program to the 2024/25 winter season to better evaluate its effectiveness so staff could recommend whether it should be permanent.
If made permanent, staff recommend purchasing three additional sidewalk plow units rather than rely on existing machines and deplete the overall sidewalk plow fleet.
The Sept. 15 operations committee meeting of city council is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m., and can be viewed in-person at Tom Davies Square or livestreamed by clicking here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.